As I looked out my bedroom window this morning, I was struck by the lovely jonquils "fluttering and dancing in the breeze." It reminded me of my freshman year of college when I fell in love with Wordsworth. It was my poetry class that Friday before Labor Day weekend. On the train ride back home for a brief Labor Day visit, I pulled out my Norton Anthology, flipped open to Wordsworth's section and started to memorize "I wandered lonely as a cloud/That floats on high o'er vales and hills,/When all … [Read more...] about Why I Memorize Poetry
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Authenticity: Find YOUR Voice
A week ago today, I was standing at the head of the table in the conference room at the National Fair Housing Alliance in D.C. doing a 3 hour public speaking training for their staff. Straightaway I told them that out of everything I could share with them about communicating effectively the most important thing was to be themselves--to be authentic. Authenticity is the foundation for everything else. When I first started teaching high school English, I wanted to be just like my dad. He was … [Read more...] about Authenticity: Find YOUR Voice
A Day of Mistakes: Adele and Me
Yesterday was a day of mistakes. First, I was at my gig at Wheaton Library performing my show Pets at the White House that I do with my friend and colleague, Elizabeth Doyle. Our Pets show is completely innocuous, politically speaking. We sing and share fun and interesting anecdotes about the roles pets have played in the lives of the First Families, everything from the fact that Thomas Jefferson had a pet mockingbird who sat on his shoulder while he worked to George and Barbara Bush walking the … [Read more...] about A Day of Mistakes: Adele and Me
What Bike Riding Taught Me About Goal-Setting
I clipped into my bike. I had 12 tough miles in front of me--over hills, up and down a mountain, and slow-going terrain through sand and mud. But I was primed. It was a beautiful day, I could hear the beat of the music in my ear, and I felt good that I was taking on this challenge, knowing how much stronger I would feel physically and mentally when I was done! Ok. So there weren’t really hills and a mountain and sand. It was just going to feel that way. Actually, I was at spin class sitting … [Read more...] about What Bike Riding Taught Me About Goal-Setting
A Little Spice is Nice!
Growing up, there was only one kind of chocolate chip cookie in our house--Toll House. When my mom made them, she always let us eat the dough. Oh, joy, the good old days when we never gave salmonella a second thought. I can still remember digging my spoon into that mound of dough dotted with chocolate chips. I would almost make myself sick eating the dough--but it was worth it! By the time I was in fourth or fifth grade, I could whip up a Toll House batch by heart. No need to even look at the … [Read more...] about A Little Spice is Nice!